


Saint/Sinner

by FireFaceOutlook



Series: SaboAce Week, 2018 [4]
Category: One Piece
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-27
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2019-04-08 17:01:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14109945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireFaceOutlook/pseuds/FireFaceOutlook
Summary: Sabo is a draconic demon who was defeated by and forced into a contract with a fire mage named Portgas D. Ace.  Sabo despised being forced under someone's control and, by association, hated Ace.  He wasn't sure when that began to change.





	Saint/Sinner

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N: Sigh. I kind of lost motivation to do this prompt week, but hopefully I can make up for that by finishing everything, even though they'll be late. I hope you enjoy this anyway!**

Ace liked to think the was a decent person towards Sabo. He didn't use the demon's abilities unless he absolutely had to and he let the blond have free reign of his house. (He couldn't just free Sabo and let him go back to terrorizing people.) Needless to say, the demon was never very happy with him. Ace woke with a knife to his throat more often than he liked to admit; it didn't matter where he hid them, either, and eventually he just gave up on that. And yet he was still alive after over a year with Sabo dwelling in his home and tied to his magic.

Ace didn't often leave Sabo home alone, but when his brother Luffy returned from his latest quest with late birthday gifts and many stories to tell... Well, Ace just needed some time with his brother before the wanderlust sent Luffy to the far reaches of the planet once more. By the time Ace returned home, in the pre-dawn hours of the morning, it was completely silent. That wouldn't normally concern Ace, since Sabo was a quiet person in general. However, he was also, as Ace found out through trial and error, someone who wanted to be alone but hated being lonely. Plus, he was often passive-aggressively expressing his desire for Ace's demise so he could be free again, even if he was much less violent than he used to be towards the fire mage.

“I'm back,” he called cautiously as he hung his jacket and toed off his boots at the door. He made it all the way to the kitchen before he finally caught the scent of sulfur. Sabo appeared in the time it took Ace to blink – the demon's sudden entrances no longer startled him – and the brunet tipped his head back as the cold edge of a blade was laid across his throat. “I assume I deserve this, but can you tell me why you want to kill me this time?”

Sabo always had _some_ reason or another, even if sometimes they were dumb reasons, like Ace not buying enough meat to sate the demon's appetite or smelling too much like smoke, the former being due to him not swimming in cash and the latter, well, he couldn't help it with his element. It was always the same song and dance. Except maybe it wasn't, because Sabo usually looked indifferent or subtly amused when he threatened Ace. Ace hadn't seen him look so frustrated since their first few months adjusting to being stuck with each other.

It took Sabo a moment to piece together what he wanted to say, and while Ace didn't normally want to rush the blond, he was also tired and having a blade pulled on him wasn't something he wanted to deal with before going to bed.

“You make me feel... _you make me feel_ ,” he said quietly, fiercely, “and I don't like it. I want it to stop. Now.”

Ace wondered briefly if Sabo was stupid, and if it wasn't for the knife present, he would voice that question aloud. He knew that demons' emotions were usually suppressed to avoid becoming attached to humans when they willingly formed a contract. (Maybe it was the fact that the contract wasn't completely consensual.) However, Sabo had proved on more than one occasion that he wasn't as “hardened and dangerous” as he tried to make himself seem – he was full of more than just contempt and emptiness –, and he didn't hate Ace as much as he used to. Such as the rare moments when Ace's life was actually in danger and he found Sabo's magic fueling his own, making it stronger, without him having to ask.

“So you're going to kill me?” Ace asked.

Maybe it was the incredulousness leaking into his tone – most definitely not on purpose; Ace had no desire to feed whatever flames were fueling Sabo's emotions at the moment – or maybe Sabo was angrier than he appeared. Whatever the cause, Sabo's magic was reacting to his aggravation. His pupils thinned to vertical slits and subtle bumps formed under Sabo's eyes, along his jaw, and across his collarbone – Ace had never seen Sabo's transitions from human to demon forms before, maybe because part of the contract was that Sabo could no longer fully transform without permission from Ace, but he could tell the bumps were the blond's scales because his pale skin was darkening like a bruise wherever the bumps were. Scutes were also rising on the backs Sabo's fingers as his nails blackened, ready to turn into claws.

He pressed the knife harder against Ace's throat; it wasn't yet enough to break the skin, but the mage was a little worried that he was really going to be cut up this time. (Not that it would really do anything to him. Due to his element, his skin would just to turn flames if the knife bit in, since their contract with each other made it so Sabo couldn't infuse his magic into physical weapons without Ace's permission as well.) But then Sabo removed the knife, brows furrowing as the bumps and scutes receded and discoloration faded. The frown warped the burn scar on the left side of his face. Ace never asked about that and the matching marks on his left arm (and probably further across his body) and Sabo never told, but it wasn't difficult to recognize the effect of blessed silver on a demon's skin.

“No,” Sabo finally replied, and he sounded as tired as Ace currently felt. “Killing you wouldn't fix this.”

He set the knife on the counter and left the room as if he hadn't just threatened Ace's life (again) or sounded like he was insinuating something Ace should know and didn't. Ace stared blankly at the knife before taking it and tossing it in a random drawer. He decided that talking to Sabo about all this could wait until the morning and he went to his room to finally sleep.


End file.
